Chemical X
by Lorikeet Shmorikeet
Summary: "Sugar, spice, and everything nice. These were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little girl. But Professor Utonium accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction: Chemical X! Thus the Powerpuff Girls were born! " Feedback appreciated!
1. Chapter 1

The day's first beams of sunlight shone through the windows of Professor Utonium's lab, flooding the floor with warm golden rays. The Professor yawned as his eyelids heavily drooped into a close. His head hit the desk with a loud thump, which abruptly ended his sleepy daze. "...can't fall asleep now," he mumbled quietly, "not when I'm so close.."

He slowly stood and lumbered over to his lab table, where he had spent the whole night planning out the next stage in his life. The table was cluttered with vials, beakers, and piles of notes; some meticulously neat, others crumpled into paper balls. In the center of the table sat a shiny, black, steaming pot, so large it was almost cauldron-like. Surrounding the pot were three huge glass jars, each with a carefully printed label. After months of careful consideration, he had finally settled on his three key ingredients: sugar, spice, and everything nice. His plan was foolproof; after all, isn't that what all little girls are made of?

The Professor stood silently for a moment, processing what he was about to do. Although in the past he'd had his worries and his doubts, he was sure now that he wanted to do this. He thought back to the cardboard box he had packed away in his closet only 2 hours ago. Only 2 hours ago. It seemed like only 2 hours ago, he was at Brenna's and Betsy's funerals; tucking one last love note under Brenna's pillow, and burying Betsy with her favorite Disney princess doll. All he had left of his family was inside that box, 8 years' worth of happy memories, of Christmas and birthdays and Fourth of July picnics. And now here he was, almost 4 years after it all had ended. He was ready to move on.

Professor Utonium stepped towards the brewing cauldron. His creation sat there, boiling, waiting for the three final ingredients. He carefully unscrewed the first jar, which contained a heap of sparkling granulated sugar. It was snowy white, sweet, and pure. It was just as Betsy had been, and how he hoped his new daughters would turn out to be. He poured the sugar into the cauldron, and it turned a light, rosy shade of pink. He uncapped the next jar. The strong aroma of the mixed spices overwhelmed him. It was especially pungent after being contained in such a small space. The smell reminded the Professor of Brenna's gingerbread cookies, which had been as flavorful and as full of life as she was. The warm scents of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves filled the room as he poured the mixture into the steaming cauldron. Finally, the Professor shakily unscrewed the last jar. It was filled to the brim with children's toys: worn out teddy bears and plush unicorns, colorful plastic jewelery, Disney VHS tapes, and scraggly Barbie dolls, battered from years of being loved. Professor Utonium's eyes blurred with tears as he looked back upon years of fond memories. He silently vowed to love his girls with the same undying devotion with which he had loved Betsy.

"Everything nice," he whispered faintly, pouring the contents of the jar into the cauldron. The liquid inside began to fizz loudly, forming large bubbles that broke at the surface. Puzzled, the Professor looked back at his notes. As he turned, he heard a large shattering noise near his left elbow. A broken beaker lie empty next to the cauldron. The Professor frantically scrambled for shards of glass, trying to put them back together. He wanted to at least be able read the label, to find out what had soiled his recipe for the perfect little girls. "Chemical X," he read out loud, his hands shaking.


	2. Chapter 2

6 months later.

A piercing shriek echoed through the house. Professor Utonium instinctively scrambled up the stairs from his lab to the living room. Hearing more yelling coming from the girls' room, he quickly ran to see what was going on.

"Daddy!" yelled Bubbles, "She has Octi!"

Her face was red and puffy from crying.

Her sister, Buttercup, hovered in the corner of the room, dangling the stuffed octopus just out of Bubbles's grasp. She laughed maliciously, swinging Octi roughly by the tentacles.

"YOU'RE HURTING HIM!" screamed Bubbles.

The professor sighed. "Buttercup," he said sternly. "Give me your sister's toy."

Buttercups eyes narrowed, and she continued to hover for a bit before settling down and reluctantly handing him the octopus. He returned it to Bubbles, who clutched it to her chest with a sob.

"Buttercup, why did you steal your sister's octopus?"

Buttercup crossed her arms angrily. "She knocked over my house!" she said, pointing to the floor. Lying next to her feet was a scattered pile of playing cards.

The professor knelt down, stroking her hair.

"I'm sure it was an accident, honey. I don't think Bubbles meant to-"

"YES SHE DID!"

"NO I DIDN'T!" cut in Bubbles.

"DID TOO!"

"DID NOT!"

"DID TOO!"

"DID NOT!"

The professor sighed again, putting his head in his hands. It was moments like this that made it so trying to raise three girls on his own. Three beautiful, headstrong girls, who were all wonderful in their own right but had such different personalities. It was oftentimes more than he could handle. Mabye he shouldn't have given himself another chance at being a father. Hell, did he even _deserve _a second chance? He thought he had been a good father, but Betsy was a quiet, obedient kid with no siblings to fight with. Would their relationship have held out as she got older? Would he have been able to handle her teenage years, when she started dating, driving, or getting tattoos? It was questions like these that haunted him, kept him awake at night. He wished he could have her back, just for a day, to see how she would have grown up. She'd be tall, like her mother, and just as beautiful. She'd be a dancer, too. She'd always loved to dance...

"Daddy?"

The professor looked up. Two pairs of huge sparkling eyes, one green and one blue, stared at him sheepishly.

"We're really sorry, Dad," said Buttercup quietly, "we won't fight again."

"It's okay, girls," he said, holding his arms out. They ran to hug him.

"Were you hiding your face because you were mad at us?" asked Bubbles, her voice quavering.

"Of course not!" laughed the professor, "I was... taking a nap. I couldn't sleep last night; there was a cricket in my room the size of MY HAND!"

The girls gasped and giggled.

"Ewww!" squealed Bubbles.

"Let's find it and smash it!" yelled Buttercup, darting from the room.

"Wait for me!" Bubbles called after her.

It was now that the tears began to fall as the professor looked on at his girls with pride. He was truly thankful for his second chance.


	3. Chapter 3

"Girls! I'm leaving now if you wanna come with me!" Professor Utonium's voice echoed through the stairwell. "WAIT FOR US!" giggled the girls. Six tiny flip-flop clad feet rushed down the steps in a panic, making a pitter-patter like summer rain falling on a rooftop. No summer rain could be seen today, however; the Professor had picked one of the finest days of the season. The sun shone brightly and fiercely in the cloudless blue sky.

_It's a good thing we packed extra sunscreen,_ thought the professor.

He surveyed the canvas bags that were gathered by the door, checking items off of a mental list. _ Snacks, water, goggles, life vests, buckets, beachball, frisbee...where are the towels? _He sifted through the all the bags. "Hmm, must have forgotten," he mumbled quietly.

"What did we forget, Dad?" asked Blossom.

"Just the towels, sweetie, I'll grab them from the basement and then we'll be on our way!"

"YAYYY!" shouted the sisters excitedly.

Professor Utonium quickly descended into the basement. _Now, where are the towels...not in this closet...are they in the cabinet? _Professor Utonium walked over to the huge wooden cabinet, its surface covered with junk. "Ahh, here they are, second drawer!" The professor grabbed four towels and was about to head up the stairs when he spotted the fish bowl. The fish bowl sat in its usual spot on the shelf in the corner of the room, but today the professor noticed something odd: a thin layer of dust covered the glass. _When's the last time the girls touched that fish? _wondered the professor _Is it even still... _

The professor found the answer to his question by clearing a small window out of the dust and peering into the fishbowl. The girls' goldfish, Sprinkles, lie belly-up in the dirty water. The professor let out a sigh of anguish. He, of course, had never been close with Sprinkles, but breaking the news to the girls was going to be rough. He slowly trudged up the stairs, listening to the girls' giddy chatter.

"Do you think we'll see mermaids at the beach?"

"There's no such thing as mermaids, Bubbles."

"There is too, Blossom, I think I saw one in the bath yesterday..."

He opened the door with a creak.

"ALL RIGHT DAD! What took you so long?"

"Girls," said the professor slowly, "I have some sad news to tell you."

The girls' faces fell and whitened.

"Sprinkles is, well...dead."

Bubbles immediately burst out into tears. Blossom and Buttercup began to argue over her wailing.

"It was YOUR turn to feed him yesterday!"

"No one's fed him in weeks, how was I supposed to know?"

"I TOLD YOU to feed him!"

Bubbles wailed louder.

"Girls, enough! Everybody gather around."

The girls reluctantly quieted down and huddled around the professor.

"There's no need to worry, girls. I know you're sad for Sprinkles, but he's in a better place."

"He is?" sobbed Bubbles.

"Well, no...er, mabye...the truth is I don't know, girls. No one really knows. What happens when we die is one of the biggest mysteries in life. It's sort of something you have to...decide for yourself."

There was a long silence.

"What do you think happened to Sprinkles?", asked Buttercup.

The professor wasn't sure of the answer himself. "Hmm...well I think Sprinkles could be anywhere. He could be up in the stars, or hiding in the clouds, or mabye even here on Earth. Mabye he started over as a bird or a tree or something, you know... got himself a second chance."

...

The girls decided to go through with the day's plans in order to give Sprinkles a proper funeral, on the seashore. After hours of eating and playing in the sun, they dug a hole in the sand with their plastic beach shovels and buried their goldfish, marking his grave with a shiny white seashell. When it came time to leave, Bubbles began to cry. The professor went to comfort her, but his two other daughters beat him to it, rushing to help their sister.

"It's okay, Bubbles. We had a great day today. Sprinkles would have wanted that." Blossom put her arms around Bubbles.

"But...we'll never see Sprinkles again," sniffled Bubbles.

"That's not true, remember what Dad said? For all we know, Sprinkles might be that tiny bird hiding in the dunegrass over there."

"Or mabye he's that seagull who stole my sandwich!" chimed in Buttercup.

Bubbles sniffled again. "Well...Sprinkles _did _like sandwiches..."

The professor smiled, gazing into the sky. The daylight was slipping away, leaving a watercolor trail of purples and reds. The first stars of the evening twinkled faintly overhead.

_If you're up there, Sprinkles, take care of my girls for me._


End file.
